[TheForge] 1045 Steel (?)

[dan tull]

Dann,
Spec data sheet for "HC" spikes say 30 pts. carbon Max.
Which makes them mild steel.



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dann Johnson" <dann at wctatel.net>
To: "Bob Ehrenberger" <eforge at centurytel.net>; "Sponsored by ABANA" 
<theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Tuesday, March 04, 2008 10:52 AM
Subject: [TheForge] 1045 Steel (?)


>
>
> I believe that  railroad spikes marked "HC" are 1040 or 1045  steel.
> A friend of mine  gave me  two  5- gallon buckets filled with  old 
> railroad spikes, that cost him  a dollar a pail.
> The buckets were so heavy that the handle tore loose from one  of the 
> plastic buckets, when I tried to pick it up.
>
> I'd guess that you are just looking at new steel, but there is a ton of 
> good old carbon steel out there for scrap prices.
> http://www.anvilfire.com/21centbs/jnkstee1.jpg   Sometimes it is even 
> cheaper than that, if you do a drive through the country and can talk a 
> farmer into selling that rusting piece of old machinery sitting in the 
> corner of his yard.
>
> 7 or 8 years ago, I bought a combination straight pein / cross pein hammer 
> from Nathan Roberts.  I love that hammer  and think it is worth the $40 
> plus dollars that I paid for it.   I learned that Nathan  originally  made 
> his hammers using the  1045 steel  from old ( pull type- ground drive ) 
> manure spreader axles.
>
> I've seen countless of these old manure spreaders sell to iron scrappers 
> at auction for $10 or so dollars each. I bought an old 12 foot 'digger' 
> that also had a good steel axle for  $5 at farm auction. One manure 
> spreader axle is enough to make  a dozen  (or  two)  hammers.
>
> Knowing it was good steel, I felt guilty allowing my son to cut up the 
> axle  of another one, to be tossed into a load of  scrap last fall.  I'd 
> bet a telephone call to an iron scrapper would find you some locally.
>
> There was a lot of good carbon steel on old farm machinery.
>
> <http://www.anvilfire.com/index.php?bodyName=/FAQs/junkyard_steel.htm&titleName=Blacksmithing%20and%20metalworking%20FAQ%20from%20anvilfire.com>
>
>
> Dann
>
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